Change of Life

by Lil Penpusher

10 - Lesson one

The next Morning, on the surface the Sun is slowly showing itself beneath the horizon.

A few quiet steps can be heard inside the changeling home. The Sound of the Steps slowly creeps towards Thunder's bedroom, coming closer, closer and closer. Suddenly they stop.

"Good Morning!"

Yelled Shade as he jumps into the Room. Thunder looked like he had a heart attack from the...rather loud alarm clock.

"What the hay!? What was that for!?"

He spit out between deep breaths. Shade giggled, He hadn't been able to prank anyone like that for ages.

"Hey, come on! I'm sure someone like you can withstand a little prank like that, right?"

Thunder grumbled and stared at him in disaproval. Then he laid back down, facing away from Shade.

"Yeah, whatever."

Shade rolled his eyes as he walked up to Thunder and taped his back.

"Ahem. I would like to inform you that it is time to wake up now. No sleepy sleep anymore."

Thunder rolled around in his Hammock and looked at Shade in surprise.

"Wake up? Now? It can't be time for that yet, I've barrely gotten any sleep."

Shade raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"Didn't sleep too well?"

Thunder growned while scratching his head.

"Ugh, not too well, no...but I'll come back to that later. Why wake up now though?"

Shade lifted a hoof as he begann explaining.

"Well, we have a lot to do today. Not only today actually, for the next few days...2 weeks to be precise."

Thunder gave out a loud "UUUUGH!" while covering his face with his hooves.

"So you're telling me I have to wake up THIS soon for the next two weeks?? Why? What do we even have to do that makes our day so "busy"?"

Shade laughed as he held out a hoof for Thunder.

"Chrysalis made me responsible for getting you accustomed with the Hive and your new Body. Trust me, if we wanna get all of that done in time, we'll have to wake up this early. It's definitly not gonna be a walk in the park for us."

Thunder grabbed Shade's Hoof while he talked. After he had pulled him up, he sat on the edge of the Hammock.

"Us? Why would it be a challenge for you?"

Shade scratched his backhead.

"Weeelll...It wouldn't be such a challenge for me in general but...I highly doubt you will agree to doing everything on our to-do list. Convincing people to learn is kinda hard, at least for me."

Shade then turned around and mumbled "I'm not a teacher anyway..." to himself. Thunder got up from the Hammock and followed Shade outside the room, thinking about what he had said in the meantime. As they arrived outside, Thunder had to ask an awkward question...and he was afraid of the answer.

"Um...so...where's the food? It's been ages since I ate something. You guys don't happen to have some Pizza lying around here, do you?"

Shade stopped in his tracks and turned around.

"Not exactly. Not that there would be any need for that anyway. I know it doesn't sound too nice in your ears but...we changelings eat on love and love only. Our stomachs can't digest normal food. If you really wanna eat some Pizza then go ahead but I'm not cleaning up the mess you'll cause afterwards."

Thunder sighed and lowered his head in disapointment. Never could he experience the taste of his favorite foods anymore. Or any food at all for that matter. Now he was stuck with...this...feeding on love...the love of innocent ponies...

"That's just..."

"...wrong?" Shade ended the sentence for him. "I know it seems like that for you. Trust me, it's not as cruel and evil as ponies say it is. And after all, it's in our nature, we can't rebel against our own bodies."

Thunder mumbled "I bet I can..." just loud enough so that Shade could hear it. Yet, Shade decided not to say anything about it, 2 tough and argue rich weeks were lying ahead of of him.

"Anyways, follow me. I'll show you the way to the Food Chambers."

Thunder grunted and slowly walked up behind Shade. "Food Chambers..." he thought, "...that's what they call the place where they hold ponies against their will and feed on them..." As Shade walked up to the "Entrance" of his home and once again lowered the wall, a lot quicker and less dramatic this time, Thunder sighed in what was to come.

"Greeeat, tunnels. I missed those sooo much."

Shade lifted the Wall behind Thunder as he left and then proceeded to walk towards a tunnel entrance. This time though, it was a different tunnel entrance.

"I know you don't like it, but I'll show you how to work around the darkness inside the Hive soon. For now though, just follow me, I'll light the way."

At that moment his horn once again lighted up in a green tone. He entered the Tunnel, Thunder following him close behind, not wanting to lose him in the Darkness.

"So..." Thunder began while following. "What do you mean with "working around the darkness"? How is that supposed to work?"

Shade replied without looking back at Thunder.

"Well...It has to do with Nightsight. Normally all Changelings know how to use it but changelings like you are different, which is kind of obvious. I'll teach you how to use it later on, when we get back home."

Thunder grumbled quietly as Shade called him a Changeling. He was sure to be called one in the near future, and he was sure to hate being called one too.

"Sure...I guess..."

From there on Thunder kept his mouth shut and followed Shade quietly through the tunnels. After about a minute (which still seemed like an hour to Thunder) they arrived at the end of the tunnel. After they left the tunnel they both stood still for a moment as they looked around the room that they found themselves in....a Food Chamber.

"I think I have to throw up..."

Thunder stated with disgust in his voice. He looked around the rather dark and sinister room. There were about 3 Changelings in the room with them, walking around...cocooned ponies. Thunder looked at the different cocoones, there were about 9 of them, to see if he knew anypony that was trapped in them. Luckily...he didn't recognize anypony.

"Well...I guess I'll lead the way, again."

Shade interrupted Thunder's thought process as he walked towards a cocooned unicorn. Thunder walked up behind him and looked at her. She looked so innocent in there. She looked like she didn't deserve this, any of this. And now...now he and his "friend" were going to feed on her love...?

"Alright, so." Shade started, slightly bumping Thunder with his flank to regain his attention. "First thing you have to do is close your mind and focus on the target. Focus, inhale and exhale deeply if you need to, it can help in the beginning. Focus until you can feel the warmth inside the target's body. When you've achieved that, you need to focus on said warmth and imagine it moving towards your horn. If it doesn't work at first then just keep trying."

With that, Shade turned around to the unicorn and followed the steps. At first he closed his eyes. Thunder could hear and see him inhale and exhale. Then he lifted his head slightly. The Unicorn inside the cocoon moved slightly as Shade fed on her love. After about 10 seconds Shade opened his eyes again and turned around to Thunder once again.

"There you go, that's how it's done. Now it's your turn."

Thunder looked at the unicorn in regret. Was he really going to do this? Was he really going to feed on the love of an innocent pony? Could he bring himself to do it? There was this big hunger in moving him towards doing it but...would it be right? Of course not...or is it? There were two voices in his head shouting at each other. One telling him to not do it, the other one telling him to do what he had to do and feed on the love.

"Fine...I'll try..."

He said, Shade stepped aside, letting Thunder pass through. A slight smile appeared on Shade's face, seeing his old best friend trying to feed on love for the first time.

"Forgive me for this...I'm sorry..."

Thunder whispered to the unicorn, unsure if she was even able to hear him in there or not. Then Thunder began following the steps Shade had told him about. He closed his eyes and focused on the unicorn in front of him. He inhaled and exhaled deeply as he continued to focus. It already took longer for him to simply focus than it took for Shade to do the whole thing.

"Focus. You have to feel the love inside of her, the warm love."

Shade's advice paid off as Thunder could soon feel the love inside of the unicornl. He couldn't quite believe he was actually FEELING someone's love right now. But of course this wasn't where it stopped. He wasn't just going to feel it, he was going to eat it. After a few seconds of feeling the love, Thunder tried to move it towards him. However, it didn't quite work.

"Slower, slower. Don't rush it."

Thunder tried following his advice and tried to move it once again, much slower this time. And indeed, it moved towards him. He licked his lips without noticing as it got close to him. He then channeled it into his horn, a part of his body which he was still fairly uncomfortable with. He could feel the newly gained love move through his body, giving him new energy.

"Wow, that was...good..."

Thunder said, losing his enthusiasm mid-sentence as he remembered it was love he had just fed on and stolen from somepony. Sure, it tasted great and he even felt great now but there was a bitter aftertaste all the time. It was the fact that it indeed WAS love, and it definitly wasn't his love.

"Wow, first try. I'm impressed! Well done!"

Shade said, visually impressed by Thunder's performance.

"I don't know...this feels...wrong. Just look at them, they are innocent and helpless!"

Thunder's loud voice attracted the attention of other changelings inside the room, yet they went back to their business after a few seconds.

"Of course that's true. However, the only reason why we have to feed on ponies like this is because we don't get nearly enough love through things like our Infiltrators. If we don't get enough love by acting undercover in pony territory WITHOUT hurting them, then it's the only choice we have to sustain ourselves."

Thunder grunted.

"And why don't you just ask for some love?" Thunder remembered what he was told yesterday suddenly. "Oh...nevermind..."

Shade sighed as he began walking towards the same tunnel they had used before.

"Don't worry, I too want times to change. A shame we have to treat ponies like this."

Thunder looked back at the unicorn behind him as he slowly followed Shade. He was unsure whether or not feeding on love was "ok" in general or not. He also wasn't sure about...well, Shade. Maybe he was just pretending to be a good friend right now? What if he had turned him into a changeling because he knows too much about his plans? I didn't exactly matter to him right now, there was too much happening than he could think about that properly.

"Congrats on passing Lesson one."

Shade said as he entered the tunnel. His voice echoed not only through the tunnel but also in Thunder's head.

"Now to Lesson two."